Harvest
by Shinigami29
Summary: Oneshot. "You were in the street, fondling yourself, for everyone to see," he moved his hands suggestively as he spoke, causing Wendy's cheeks to burn brighter.  -Note-Written before chapter 254. Non-cannon.


_**Disclaimer: **_I in no way, shape or form own Fairy Tail.__

**Harvest**

It was the same thing every year. He'd sneak into Magnolia in the dead of night, book into a dead beat tavern at twice the cost so that the barkeep called him 'Macht', and ignore everyone in the guild. Everyone pretended not to notice, but the atmosphere always changed whenever he was lingering in a shadow nearby. People tensed up and tried not to look in his direction, as if seeing him would be the only way to solidify his presence.

Wendy never understood why they bothered with the pretense.

She had heard every story and rumour in town about him. It was one of her favourite hobby's during the other 11 months of the year - set out to a pub (or even a remote village) and sit in a corner with a small glass of mead, which she never touched, to whisper his name into a conversation, just so that she could hear what people thought about him. She knew that he used the Raijinshu as an elite team to force his guild mates into a battle royale. She knew that he had tried, and failed, to kill everyone in Magnolia with the magic Fairy Law. She even knew that his own father implanted Lightning Dragon Lacrima into his body to make him stronger. But even knowing all the dark, twisted rumours that would brew and get worse every time she listened she could still only picture him as she had when she was 12. A flash of glory and a humble sacrifice to save them all from Hades.

"You okay Wendy?" A soft voice jolted Wendy from her thoughts, and with a sigh she looked up at the blonde woman sitting across from her. Lucy had, if at all possible, become even more womanly over the course of six years. The Stellar Spirit Mage had her hair pilled up losely on her head today, and was staring at Wendy with worried eyes.

_Has it really been six years since I joined Fairy Tail? _Wendy mused as she smiled. "I'm fine. Just thinking."

Lucy gave her a knowing look, but didn't comment. Instead she continued her complaints about Natsu and Loke, causing Wendy to smile. _When will she grow up and pick one? _The Sky Dragon Slayer tried to appear interested, but it didn't take long for her mind to drift off again. She looked across the street discretely, careful to occasionally make a non-committal noise to keep Lucy from questioning her again.

The two young woman (_I still don't feel like I'm 18,_ Wendy thought self consciously as she tried not to compare her petite figure to Lucy's well filled-form) sat outside a quaint coffee shop near Magnolia's Market place. Lucy usually insisted that the girls from Team Natsu meet up at least once a week but for whatever reason Erza was busy, and Juvia was on a job with Gray. It left the conversation lacking, not because Wendy and Lucy didn't get along, but because... well, Lucy loved to talk. And Wendy liked to think.

It was the blond woman's sigh that let Wendy know she had been absent-minded for too long.

"So," Lucy breathed out. Wendy slowly turned her gaze back to the stellar spirit mage, and knew in an instant which conversation they were going to have.

"Are you looking forward to the Harvest Festival?" Wendy asked pleasantly, beating the blond to the punch.

Lucy smiled. "I am! I'm determined to win Miss Fairy Tail this year!" She giggled, then added "though if you join in this year it might be a hard match."

"We both know that Erza is going to win again," Wendy joined in the laughter. "She wins every year!"

"Yes, but I have a secret weapon this year," Lucy grinned mischeviously, but refused to reveal what her secret was. Wendy played at conversation, nearly pleading for Lucy to talk - anything to make the older woman happy. She was practically family.

Their fun and games simmered down after a few minutes, and Wendy took a quick breather to look around the street again. This time she saw a familiar shadow that caused her freeze. He was barely there, a hood pulled low over his eyes and a cloak blurring the lines of his body, but she would know him anywhere by now. The stance, the walk, the taunting voice...

Laxus.

She could feel Lucy's eyes shift from her to the general direction she was looking, and heard the blond woman sigh again. "Wendy... this little crush of yours is-"

"Childish," Wendy snapped quickly, pulling her gaze away from the ex-Fairy Tail member. She knew this part of the conversation off by heart. It was the part she hated. "He's not part of the guild anymore. He's almost never in Magnolia. He has a temper shorter than Happy's understanding of Charle's mind. I know." _But he's here _now. _Doesn't that mean something?_

Lucy was chewing on her lower lip, still looking at the sky sorceress with doubt in her eyes. "He only comes to pay his Grandfather respects during Fantasia. He never stays."

"_I know._"

"He-"

Wendy's chair clattered to the ground as she pushed herself up and away from the table. Lucy went quiet as the dragon slayer dug threw her pockets for some money. "Here," Wendy said irritably, putting more than enough on the table. "I'll see you at the contest tomorrow?" Lucy nodded. Wendy tried a smile, but only managed a nod as she turned on her heel and tried not to storm away.

She could feel the air getting heavier.

_Why does everyone still treat me like a kid? _She thought angrily as she walked away from the coffee shop. And the shadow of Laxus. She didn't get far though - she had no where to go. The guild, the girl's dorm, her friend's houses... all of them held people that come October every year, like clock work, would pointedly ignore Laxus while giving her knowing and sympathetic looks. _It's not like I go around dreaming he'd take me away into the sunset or something!_

Stopping in front of window display of a new brand Magic Markers, Wendy looked at her own reflection. She carefully analysed the small curve of her breast, the slim line of her waist, the length of her legs. Six years since she had joined the guild, and physically she had grown up a lot, though maybe not the way that her Edolas-counterpart had grown. With a pout she traced her fingers over her figure, oblivious to the heated looks men on the street were giving her for her actions. Her mind was lost, thinking about some of the more... _intimate_ rumours she had heard about Laxus.

Like how he had once asked Lucy to be his woman. And how people thought he used to sleep with Evergreen. Or that he might've had a thing for Erza. Three of the most beautiful, big-busted woman in the guild. _And then there's me._

She turned to view herself from a profile, pushing up her breasts slightly as she continued to frown. _No. Probably not his type at all._

The thought had barely finished forming in her mind when she saw his reflection. Then a moment later his hand wrapped around her arm, just under her guild mark, and he started to drag her down the street.

"Laxus!" She squeaked, but he didn't respond. She feebly tried to pull away, but he just held her tighter. Then she trembled, the same mixture of fear and anticipation she had felt the first time she had met him.

Wendy let her eyes roam over muscles of his arms, remembering that first meeting. She had been terrified and confused, thinking she was going to die at any moment on a remote island that only other Fairy Tail members knew about, when he had materialized in front of Hades. He'd displayed such power, such magnificence, in that short battle that even know he was defeated, she was never able to forget.

She asked Lucy to tell her all about him when they had first gotten back to the guild, but the blond had been reluctant. It wasn't until the next October, the next Harvest Festival, that people started to talk. That she started to learn all of the stories.

That she started to fall in love.

Laxus made a sharp turn down a dark ally, causing Wendy to trip over her own feet. After a few stumbling steps she righted herself, but by then Laxus had stopped and turned to look at her with a glare.

"What the hell were you doing?" He barked at her.

Wendy blushed. _He's talking to me... _She stayed silent for awhile, just staring up into his face, so close for the first time. His blue-grey eyes narrowed at her, but it still took her a few moments to realized he had asked her a question. "Wh... what do you mean..?"

"You were in the street, _fondling yourself,_ for everyone to see," he moved his hands suggestively as he spoke, causing Wendy's cheeks to burn brighter.

"I was not!" She yelled at him, embarrassment and anger burning at her core. _I mean... sure, I _have_, as he put it, 'fondled' myself before... but never in public! _

"And what do you call feeling up your reflection?" He sneered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Why do you even care?" She sneered right back, crossing her own arms in turn.

"You're part of Gramps' guild." He shrugged. "He'd be pissed if some layabout had their way with you."

"You're the only layabout this town knows of," Wendy taunted. She was instantly appalled with herself - had she been spending too much time with Natsu?

But to her surprise, Laxus laughed. More like he roared, tilting his head back and opening his mouth to the sky as peels of amusement sounded in the air. And slowly Wendy calmed down, her anger dissipating and her shoulder's relaxing. Eventually she even joined in with a giggle of her own.

Once he had calmed down, Laxus gave the young Dragon Slayer a good look over. "Be careful," he said with a smirk. "Layabout or not, men tend to get a little... aggressive towards women who don't mind showing off in public," his eyes lowered, licking over every inch of her body that she had been mentally critiquing before he had dragged her down the street.

"I wasn't showing off for anyone," Wendy said quietly, a pout gracing her lips even as the blush deepened on her cheeks. _I didn't even know you were looking..._

"Well," he looked back up to her eyes. "Maybe just stop checking yourself out in windows then." He turned to continue down the ally way.

Before she knew what she was doing, Wendy reached out and grabbed his wrist. "Are you going to Fantasia again this year?"

He glanced back over his shoulder, one eye brow raised another the other in a question. "Yes."

Wendy took a deep breathe. "Are you going to hide again this year?"

He turned slightly, looking at her more closely. "It makes everyone else more comfortable to pretend I'm not there."

"No it doesn't!" She burst out. "Everyone is trying to make _you _feel better because-"

"Do I even know you?" He interrupted her. Wendy deflated, dropping his wrist as if it had burned her. She shook her head 'no'. "You joined the guild after I left, right?" She nodded 'yes'. "So why do you care?"

She chewed on her tongue for a moment, letting the question sink in. There was no way she was just going to blurt out her unrequited crush of 6 years, when he didn't even know her name. And it would be awkward to explain how grateful she felt for him saving her and the others. Indebted even. "Because..." She tested the words in her mind quickly, then looked him straight in the eyes. "Because we're all a part of Fairy Tail. And you should be too. Everyone still wants you to be."

He stared at her blankly for a long time. Just as she began to fidget, nervous under his gaze, he turned his back to her again. He spoke as he walked away, "I'll see you at the Festival... what was your name?"

"Wendy," she breathed out, butterflies moving wildly in her stomach.

"Wendy," he repeated even as he was turning another corner out of her sight.

Later that week, after Wendy had helped Erza onto the Miss Fairy Tail float and had consoled Lucy that maybe she'd win next year, sometime during the few minutes the dragon slayer had to slip into her own dress for Fantasia, she saw Laxus talking to the Guild Master. And while both of them were in the shadows, they were both smiling. And for a moment during the parade (though maybe she had imagined it) Wendy thought she had caught the ex-Fairy Tail looking at her from in the crowd.

And though he left Magnolia again, just like he did every year, Wendy couldn't help but think that the next Harvest Festival would be different.


End file.
